The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where host Emily Bright checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. Listen to Ask a Bookseller to find your next favorite book.

Big Books and Bold Ideas

Big Books and Bold Ideas is a weekly series hosted by Kerri Miller and produced by Kelly Gordon every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

Talking Volumes

Talking Volumes is an annual event series featuring notable authors in conversation about their new books. Presented by MPR News and The Minnesota Star Tribune.

Richard Flanagan’s exploration of history, family and human interconnection in ‘Question 7’
Australian author Richard Flanagan recently became the first writer to win both the Booker Prize and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Best Book of Nonfiction. The latter prize was for his memoir “Question 7.” In it he examines his own life through a series of interconnections stretching across history and spanning the globe.
New book tells how the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe defended its reservation and sovereignty
“They Would Not Be Moved: The Enduring Struggle of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe to Keep their Reservation” by historian and anthropologist Bruce White was published earlier this year by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. The book details the nearly 200-year fight by the tribal nation to maintain their land.
Ask a Bookseller: ‘North Woods’ by Daniel Mason
Justin Dickinson of Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kan., recommends ‘North Woods’ by Daniel Mason.
Dr. Marty Makary on medicine's blind spots
Dr. Marty Makary says data misinterpretation and conventional thinking is not serving us well — and he wants to change that. His new book, “Blind Spots,” details when medicine got it wrong and then resisted making it right.
Percival Everett wins the National Book Award fiction prize
Everett's novel “James” is a retelling of Mark Twain's “Huckleberry Finn.” The prestigious literary prize also awards the best in non-fiction, poetry, translated literature and young people's literature.
In a new book, Minnesota author spotlights unsung hero from the HIV/AIDS crisis
“When the Band Played On” by Michael G. Lee tells the story of Randy Shilts, a pioneering journalist who worked to change the narratives and reporting around the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
Turning pages through time: St. Paul’s Red Balloon Bookshop celebrates its 40th year
The Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul celebrates 40 years as a beloved community hub for children’s books, storytimes and local literary events, weathering challenges like eBooks, Amazon and the pandemic.
New book traces life from a Somali orchard to running a nonprofit in Minnesota
In “My Dear Loving Sisters: Tea and Stories from an Audacious Life,” Fatoun Ali lays out how she survived poverty and abuse to raise four children and start a nonprofit. She told her story in the form of a workbook, with strategies and questions for overcoming all kinds of challenges.